The Beginning of No Country For Old Men

Setting
- Rocky desert
- American landscape
- Police station/ Sheriff's office
- Trailer

Characters
- The 'Killer'
- The 'Drug dealers'
- Cowboys/ Hunter
- Wife
- Police man

Situations
- Murder at start
- Establishes character
- Cold-blooded
- Drug deal gone bad
- Track the money?
- Raise the alarm? MORAL CHOICE
- Returning home to the wife

Style
- Voice over at start
- Lack of Non-digetic music
- Continuity editing and straight cuts
- Extra long shots and long shots

Aspects of a Thriller

Enigma
- Refers To A Puzzle
- Something Mysterious Or Unexpected
- A Riddle Or Problem



Red Herring
- This is the name given to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance.
- It can work with other devices such as Enigmas, to create suspense.


Cliff Hanger
- Often feature a main character in a precarious or difficult dilema, or confronted with a shocking revelation.
- Keeps audience watching.

Analysis of Film Openings

'Zodiac'
- Boy and Girl
- Car
- Night Time
- Secluded Area
- Mysterious Vehicle

The audience know this is a thriller because it keeps you in suspense and also uses a 'red herring'. A red herring is the name given to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance. The red herring used in the opening of this film is the fireworks and the gunshot.

This opening scene makes the audience want to keep watching because it is not known who is in the mysterious car and why. Also the audience don't know what is going to happen at first.



The first murder scene of Zodiac

'The Conversation'
- Women and Man
- Busy Town
- Man Being Watched and Listened To

The audience know this is a Thriller because it uses a red herring. This red herring is the Mime artist and the man.

The opening of this film makes the audience wants to keep watching because we want to know why the couple are being listened to and watched. Also we want to know what the couple are saying and why what they are saying is so important.



The Conversation Trailer

Alfred Hitchcock's Rope - (1948)

This thriller film tells the story of two wealthy men who kill a friend by strangling him with a rope, just to see if they would get away with it. They invite friends and his family round and hide the body in a chest.



The beginning of Rope (1948)

Thrillers

Thrillers are films of suspense that are supposed to instil terror into the audience.
Different types of thrillers:
- Spy thrillers
- Political thrillers
- Conspiracy thrillers
- Legal thrillers
- Psycological thrillers

Most thrillers create 'intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension' http://www.filmsite.org/thrillerfilms.html

This blog is going to be for my media studies AS coursework. For my coursework I will have to produce the titles and opening of a new fiction film in the thriller genre to last no more than two minutes.